Boston Police Commissioner Calls for More Cameras

Boston’s police commissioner, Edward Davis, has called for beefing up the police state in the United States while saying government must protect the rights of Americans.

“We do not, and cannot, live in a protective enclosure because of the actions of extremists who seek to disrupt our way of life,” Davis said in testimony delivered to a hearing of the U.S. House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee. “I do not endorse actions that move Boston and our nation into a police state mentality, with surveillance cameras attached to every light pole in the city.”

He then called for more surveillance cameras, sophisticated snoop technology, “special police units,” and a multiplication of undercover cops at public events.

“Images from cameras do not lie. They do not forget,” Davis said. “They can be viewed by a jury as evidence of what occurred. These efforts are not intended to chill or stifle free speech, but rather to protect the integrity and freedom of that speech and to protect the rights of victims and suspects alike.”

The FBI and Boston cops have yet to provide video evidence of the Tsarnaev brothers placing a bomb at the Boston Marathon, although they have peddled video to the corporate media of their presence at the event.

Despite this, officialdom claims there is conclusive evidence. “It does seem to be pretty clear that this suspect took the backpack off, put it down, did not react when the first explosion went off and then moved away from the backpack in time for the second explosion,” declared Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick.

Patrick then admitted he hadn’t viewed the videotape but had been briefed by law enforcement officials about it.

Texas Republican Rep. Michael McCaul is heading up the House committee hearing billed as the first of a series to review the government response to the Boston bombing.

McCaul’s hearing is expected to focus on calls for the federal government to spend more money on so-called counterterrorism efforts. During the Thursday hearing, Davis and Kurt Schwartz, the Massachusetts homeland security chief, praised lavish federal grants that have permitted cities to militarize police departments to an unprecedented degree.

Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman, who played an instrumental role in creating the Department of Homeland Security – current budget, $43.2 billion – testified before the committee. Lieberman said local cops “can’t fight this war without resources” from the federal government.